Authority under RERA not set up in Gujarat yet, says PIL

The Gujarat High Court today issued a notice to the state government on a PIL seeking a direction to set up a regulatory authority under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA).

The Gujarat government hasn’t yet set up the regulatory authority contemplated under the RERA with which every new housing project is supposed to be registered, the PIL said. (Source: IE)

The Gujarat High Court today issued a notice to the state government on a PIL seeking a direction to set up a regulatory authority under the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016 (RERA). A division bench of Chief Justice R Subhash Reddy and Justice V M Pancholi issued the notice while hearing the petition filed by social activist Chhagan Mevada. The next hearing will be after one week.

The state Urban Housing and Urban Development Department has also been made a respondent to the PIL. The Gujarat government hasn’t yet set up the regulatory authority contemplated under the RERA with which every new housing project is supposed to be registered, the PIL said. The Act was passed by Parliament in 2016, while rules and regulations under it were notified by the state government on May 5.

The regulatory authority under the Act is required to check if the builder has the capacity to complete the project in the given time, the petition said. This will stop unscrupulous practises such as taking money in advance from flat buyers and not completing the project within the promised time, it said. Sometimes a scheme never takes off and the buyers get cheated, it said.